Cellular Immunity and Hepatitis-Associated, Australia Antigen Liver Disease

Association between hepatitis B virus infection and HLA-DR type in Korea

“…Various disease courses after HBV infection appear to be related to hepatocyte damage, caused not only by the HBV itself, but also by the host immune response. 1,2 Because strong virus-specific Tlymphocyte response to HBV has been associated with viral clearance, an inappropriate viral antigen presentation to T lymphocytes, controlled by the major histocompatibility complex gene, may induce persistent HBV infection. [3][4][5] Therefore, immunogenetic factors may have a role in determining the susceptibility of an individual to chronic HBV infection.…”

T cell-mediated cytotoxicity against HBsAg-coated Chang cells in patients with chronic hepatitis: Evidence for cytotoxicity mediated by delayed hypersensitivity T cell reaction.

“…Thus, it appears that, in cases of both positive cytotoxicity and HBs-antigenemia, T cell immune responses to HBsAg may cause destruction of infected hepatocytes, reflected by high S-GPT levels in comparison to those in cases of negative cytotoxicity. The presence of low serum HBsAg levels in the former may be due to inefficient clearance of HBV from the livers, as suggested by Dudley et al (1972a). The fact that the number of patients with HBsAg-positive chronic hepatitis, applicable to the situation of T cell destruction of liver cells, is rather small suggests that active T cell-mediated cytotoxicity is not detected in the blood from many patients because they may be sequestered to the livers or blocked by some serum factors (Elsheikh et al 1978).…”

Geographic correlation between mortality from primary hepatic carcinoma and prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen in Greece

“…Furthermore, various infections which may affect the incidence of PHC as well as the immunological response to HBV (Dudley, Fox and Sherlock, 1972;Zuckerman, 1972;Coady, 1975) are not encountered in Greece as frequently as in Africa and other parts of the world (WHO Annual, 1975). This is also probably true for aflatoxin (Peers and Linsell, 1973), although sufficient data are not available for Greece.…”